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The project, which is also reportedly one of the last that Apple's late cofounder, Steve Jobs, worked on, according to the Associated Press.

"He very much wanted to do for television sets what he had done for computers, music players and phones: make them simple and elegant," the authorized biography said.

The iTV is billed as the first television to fully marry TV and the Internet, letting users watch broadcast channels and letting them use streaming video from Hulu, NetFlix and YouTube without needing a box or additional computer. The AP also reports that the television is set to launch this summer.

Because the details are hazy, it's hard to know how iTV differs from other interactive televisions -- in fact, it may not. It sounds as if the TV itself is already Internet-ready, but will have the cachet of Apple behind it. It also has the benefit of not being Google TV, which already has drawn much of the ire from broadcast channels. If Apple is able to gain network content -- even if it's just a vengeful move against Google -- it could succeed where Google has failed.